AT&T and Nokia evidently have big plans for in-store advertising for the Lumia 1020. We’ve heard of “heroing” a device, where a carrier puts a specific phone front and center in all of its advertising, but now we can get a sneak peek of AT&T’s specific plans.

We just posted a video from the AT&T Michigan Avenue Store in Chicago that documented the massive launch party they held last Friday. As it turns out, all stores will get some sort of setup, depending on their size and location and we have the details.

First, some more details about that flagship Chicago store's setup:

AT&T’s flagship store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago uses interactive displays that bring the camera capabilities to life.

Gondola experience: Customers can step into a full-size gondola to take photos of various nearby scenes including balloons floating above the product runway, some distance away. This highlights the device’s ability to zoom on far-away and discover mini scenes inside the gondola. Customers can pose in the gondola while Brand Ambassadors take photos that can be printed in-store and shared via social media.

Small world Chicago experience: This demo station includes a mini version of Chicago’s Lake Shore area complete with water, sand, grass, jogging trails and portions of roads. Customers can snap a photo of the scene with the Lumia 1020 and then zoom in to see details they likely missed at first glance.

Low light demo station: Two low-light boxes give customers an opportunity to compare the performance of their smartphone camera to the camera on Lumia 1020 in real time.

DSLR station: In this demo, customers are invited to try out the incredible professional-grade camera features of the Lumia 1020.

Nokia Lumia 1020 Merchandising Plans – COR / Dealer:

"In AT&T company-owned retail stores (COR), as well as dealer and agent stores, we plan to have two demonstration stations to highlight the Lumia 1020’s imaging capabilities: one showcasing the low-light capabilities and another showing off the powerful zoom function."

Low light demo station: Two low-light boxes give customers an opportunity to compare the performance of their current smartphone camera to the camera on Lumia 1020 in real time.

Zoom demo: This demo features a small fishing hole scene in a 1.5 foot round dome. Customers are invited to snap a photo of the scene and then zoom in on it to see details that might have gone unnoticed before such as the “No Fishing” sign or items on the picnic blanket.

AT&T goes on to tell us that the “…[Lumia] 1020 will be a hero device, featured prominently across retail locations with digital signage/banners for promotion”. In addition, thousands of store reps were given a Lumia 1020 to use and become familiar with (something we verified at our own local store). They also received separate training focused on the Windows Phone 8 OS to help them answer questions from customers.

AT&T sales associate training on the Lumia 1020

We have to admit, that certainly sounds like a strong retail presence of the technological wonder that is the Nokia Lumia 1020. AT&T and Nokia sound more serious than ever about this device and pushing it to the general public. Indeed, we have half a dozen anecdotal stories about friends of friends who are well aware of the phone, meaning word-of-mouth is starting to happen.

Will that translate into actual sales? That remains to be seen, but we have a feeling that the AT&T campaign for this device is just getting started.

This is great and all, but I visited my local AT&T store last weekend because my wife actually said she might be willing to switch to Windows Phone (big surprise!). Anyway, when I told a sales associate that she might switch he said, "NOOOOO!"...and he wasn't joking. There was a huge Lumia 1020 banner behind the sales counter, but all the corporate marketing in the world is useless if the guy selling you the phone makes fun of you, especially if you are on the fence about switching.

It's really gratifying to see this level of commitment coming from all parties involve in trying to make a success story for Nokia Lumia 1020. I hope this amount of enthusiasm and dedication is put forward in all the AT&T outlets around the country.. WP8 really deserves it.

Customer servants in Telstra (Australia) were touting it as the 'super phone' weeks before its official announcement, so I'm hoping for some similar support for the flagship here in oz. There's no reason not to be excited I say, it is the single most important advancement in smartphones this year, leaping ahead of the somewhat incrementally evolving competition.

I went to many Telstra stores and they all hates on the Lumia 920, I did manage to get two of my mates to get one though and they love it. One went from android HTC One XL 4G to Windows and the other from an IPhone 5. I think Nokia needs to market it and have people at stores who knows what WP8 and Nokia are capable off. I hate it when store staff are biased. I feel like slapping them across the face at times. -_-

Maybe. Kind of. The point is, they're learning and adjusting going forward. Selling phones isn't easy and each campaign has to start anew, with different strategies. Clearly though, as detailed here, we now have specific plans that they plan to go forward with, which contradicts your 920 criticism, or at least blunts it, imo.

@Daniel I have a 1020 and I've noticed that in some pictures my focus was moved from the point I tapped. If you would please see if its happening to you. Tap and focus and you may see the focus drift I'm not sure if the lens mechanics floats and then settles. Its a wait of 6 10 secs It does settle eventually but you have to realign your focus before the shot. If its missed information on my part please enlighten me.. Thanks!

Interesting, I would like to here from someone else on this, you can't possibly be the only one in the world with this problem (in a way we hope so, right? ;) ). I don't have a 1020 nor have I heard of it, but I hope you get it straightened out. :)

I just paid the penalty to get out of it. With the $100 discount we who bought it the first week got from Nokia for messing up the signal (remember that?), the phone "only" cost me $300 total ($200 up front - $100 credit + $200 in penalty for canceling now)... felt like it was worth it.

In my conversations with some t-mo and att store reps, Nokia reps show up, chat with them about anything but Nokia phones for 10-15 minutes and then leave. No training. One att guy said that he was going to do an online based training on 1020, but didn't have time because he was too busy pushing other phones. And that was after the phone was released.

I'm a T-mo rep and I tend to push WP as much as possible mostly because I've used all OS's and I love my L925.....but there certain customers that I will not even mention it to them. These are customers that need certain apps that are not found on WP or the WP 3rd party app is just not up to par. I would never talk someone out of a phone unless I know there's a defect with that model. Overall L925 is a solid phone...surprisingly I sell alot more 521's.

Although I understand that each customer is unique, I'd still casually mention/show WP phones to them, sort of planting a WP seed in their heads. What if they have a family member or someone else they know who might be searching for a new phone and they will be able to mention it to them. That should help spreading the word and help you sell more phones in the end. ;)

Saw a low light box in one AT&T store, wasn't impressed because the box was broken from inside, blocking pretty much everything. Second display I saw was sort of like a snowball with balloons inside it and small trees.

I agree - I visited an ATT wireless store in a mall last weekend (actual store - not a kiosk). One side of the room had 10 different Android devices. The left side of the room had a single Windows Phone device - ONLY the 1020. The box display was broken inside - I tried using my 920 with it and it was broken.
Apparently all of this "awesome training" doesn't include how to properly set up the freaking low light boxes.

I like my 920, but anyone who thinks this all anything but wasted effort is smoking something. The 1020 will NEVER be a mainstream phone - simply by costing $299 in the US market. And if ATT stores display the 1020 as their ONLY Windows Phone, the WP8 sales might actually even drop.

BTW, I went to a very large ATT franchise store about a month ago. They had no HTC WP8 devices on display. They did have 5 Lumia phones on display, yet all 5 of them were non functional. They were either completely broken or had discharged batteries. The employee I talked to there was suprised to see I owned a 920, and asked me if there were any apps available for it, "like Pandora?".

Sorry guys, ATT, in reality, does NOTHING to effectively sell WP8 to consumers. Nokia is crazy to believe anything different is happening.

Elop knows this, he just can't say it on stage. I bet my nuts that they have had very heated conversations about this (I really should stop betting my nuts, because one day someone might show up and want to collect).

mine had that but nothing was broken, looked good. I am not sure about cold sales going to windows mobile, but the store near me was very excited and praised the 1020. And I went in a few weeks earlier to look in to pre-ordering and several staff members had trail phones they let me play with..

The one I go to... a corporate store, not a franchise... the employees are ALWAYS starting their sentences with
"We were SUPPOSE to train..."
"We were SUPPOSE to be able to check it out before the street date..."
"We were SUPPOSE to learn about..."
"We were SUPPOSE to have all colors, but all we have is..."
SUPPOSE SUPPOSE.
No amount of PR spin can help the corporate stores that don't care to actually do the training. The day I got my 920, I was sitting there telling the rep that was helping me, 'They have that app for Windows Phone. Yep. That one too. Yep. Oh yeah, look, I have it here on my old Dell...let me show you...'

I'm sorry you've had this experience but I manage a "franchise store" in DFW and we know the Lumia 1020 well! Half of my staff uses the 920 and think the 1020"is awesome. I agree tho that it starts from the top down and that's why I'm personally glad to see this setup. We literally had to rearrange our entire live device setup to make a special Hero Wall for it. AT&T is making a huge commitment to this device and it shows. Complaining about past experiences doesn't help.

Complaining about past experiences DOES help. We've seen these campaigns before, including the "Hero Wall" of WP8 phones, all 5 of which have discharged batteries and are broken, then having the employees asking me why I own a 920 and whether it "has any apps", and then plugging the HTC One or Galaxy to me.

I thought this was only a Windows Phone thing? If so, it would be a big selling point for the platform on AT&T. Even if it is not just a Windows Phone thing, it is big selling point for AT&T because Verizon is not giving its users 50GB of free cloud storage! There is some concerns that 32GB internal storage was not enough, but with the 50GB of free cloud storage, there shouldn't be an issue.

I think the mistake AT&T makes is not promoting WP strengths. It is NOT competive in terms of apps and ecosystem. But you will get better overall performance and integrated experience compared to iPhone and Android in many scenarios. AT&T doesn't want to commit to that sell when it's easier to show Joe America the latest iPhone or 'that Samsung phone on the commercials'. Its harder for a store rep to explain why it doesn't have Instagram or plug into the car dock. Consumers are smart enough to make a distinguished choice..but store reps won't give them the information to make it.

U wanna here something funny when I went to a big store and asked about the 1020 witch at first I didn't notice it big ass hell on the wall the sales guy on the floor asked his fellow employee "hey do we have a Nokia Lumia 1020 " lol dam he's slow

Huh. I went to the local AT&T store last Friday and there was no sign of the 1020 anywhere. They did have a 920 on display though, and the guy was able to dig the camera grip accessory out of a drawer and let me try it out.

I saw the balloon posters at the ATT store in Arrowhead Mall in Glendale Az this past weekend. They had a couple of the phones on display...incredibly lightweight, I was impressed. Happy to see it being out in the public view. Hello, Verizon? Call Nokia and let them know we're waiting.

Well I hope they take this advertising approach nation wide, because like I said before, the Miami/Ft Lauderdale AT&T stores could give a rats ass about the Nokia Lumia Phones, or any windows phone for that matter. Sales reps at these stores don't know shit about these phones, & don't care about these phones. Its all about iPhone & Android.

I went to a AT&T store in a nearby mall a couple of days before launch. I asked the woman if they had any demo models yet to check out. She snickered, looked at me and said "actually, you are the 1st person to ask about it" She then said there is just no interest, WP does not sell and nobody wants it. THAT is 1/2 the problem WP faces. The company that gets the exclusive doesn't even promote it. The reps are not trained to sell WP and it honestly seems that they are trained NOT to sell WP. And the WP's, you know, all 3 of them, are located in the very back corner of the store. WP literally gets about 12 inches of space in the whole store. Pathetic. So, showing me 1 or 2 stores that are actually doing their job doesn't cut it.

As a side note, I keep talking about my local Best Buy's. (ths is problem 2) I have 3 of them around me, they only carry 1 WP, the 8X for verizon. ( I previously stated it was the 822 but it is and always was the 8X) That is the only WP they have ever carried. No 920, and now no 1020. Someone at MS or Nokia needs to open an investigation into the stores and carriers as to what type of contracts they have with Apple and Google. It's clear they have no interest in selling WP's at all and there has got to be a reason for it. And I bet, it's a financial reason.

Basically the exact same experience at store in Minneapolis. I went in with my wife and was very excited to check out the new phone. The sales rep only came over to deter me and my wife from purchasing the phone and proceeded to give his take on why it sucked even though I was clearly interested in buying it. I was pissed. I told him I didn't want any more of his "help", but left the store wondering how they will ever gain market share in the US when they are trying to get you to not buy windows phones. I suppose at least the really cheap Nokias will help with market share, but the flagship devices are doomed...

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on how we want to look at it), this is why MS has to build their own stores across the hallway from fruity OS stores in suburbia malls as well as why they're having to buy real estate in Best Buy stores and put employees in the spaces. Apple has carriers by the nuts (especially Sprint) and it's what their employees have been trained to sell and it's easier for them to say "but here's an ipwn" sell it to a customer and then go back to sitting behind the counter and surf their social media websites. Unless they are given financial motivation/goals/directives, they will take the easiest route to their next social media break...

I've actually had numerous people ask me "Is that the new 1020?" and I'm more than happy to talk to them about it, so the awareness is out there. MS and Nokia (and AT&T) need to make sure to capitalize on it. Not everyone will be able to buy the 1020 (it *is* worth it but it *ain't* cheap), but if people are curious maybe they'd be interested in what other WP8 phones can do...

I went into att last Sunday to get my 1020, as I was sitting there getting my phone transferred over from my 920 I was pleasantly surprised to see when people came in to shop for a phone the first phone the staff showed them was the 1020, and although the staff wasn't as knowledgeable about the phone as I am they were TRYING to sell the phone, this was a big change from when I bought my 920 on launch day, but what surprised me the most was watching a sales rep talk a young lady out of the iPhone 5 and sold her a 1020. So yeah, they do seem to be trying alot harder than they did with the 920. Oh and I live in Springfield Missouri. Not exactly a large city by any means. The only promo in store was the giant air balloon poster on the wall, but the 1020 WAS front and center in the store unlike the 920 which they had on a back wall out of sight when it launched

My local AT&T store is not anywhere close to what is described. When I went in to preorder the phone a week before release, I was told that existing customers could not preorder. Went home and did it myself. After I got my phone I again went to the store to buy a wireless charging back. Got the old deer in the headlights look.

Thanks. Its not really an issue but after taking a macro shot I noticed the focus was moving around. After testing its only apparent after shaking or moving quite a bit and the camera had to settle. I'm aware and it isn't an issue.

This "hero" status nonsense sounds like typical middle management delusion. They come up with these gimmicky campaigns they think will be self-sustaining but will never work because AT&T just doesn't care. Store employees are too feckless to invest the effort and have no qualms about having their bias show through. Management isn't going to offer much more than a half-hearted mandate because most of their money comes from Android and iPhones. My understanding is that iPhones are the most profitable for AT&T not just on the sale of the phone but due to service charges throughout their life.

Unfortunately, I can't say what Nokia should be doing. In the US carriers like AT&T and Verizon hold the keys to success. It's a crap model, but it's not going to change any time soon.

As an AT&T employee I can say that I am one of the biggest supporters of Windows Phone. In my store we have a dedicated display for the Lumia 1020, as they do in all corporate AT&T stores. I've personally owned the Nokia Lumia 900, 920, and a few other Windows Phone 7.5-8. And I'm planning on purchasing the 1020. For work I use an android phone, and I do own an iPad mini. My personal phone is definitely my Windows Phone. I feel that it's good to have exposure to each of the ecosystems especially in my line of work. And I'm lucky to have that luxury. When customers walk into my store they always ask about the iPhone and the Samsung galaxy line. It's not my job to sell a specific phone. We have a large selection of smartphones to choose from. I never say that one device is definitely better than another. Each device has its specialty. It's about finding the best choice for my customer. Now a lot of customers are already biased towards a phone when they come in because of what they've heard from their friends, family, or the media. So sadly (as a Nokia fanboy) most of the time the question I get is, "So tell me, iPhone or the Galaxy?...." And I usually answer with, "We'll its to each his own." I let them know both phones are great and that each phone will do what the other one will do, with just a few exceptions. Then I usually get a question about what phone I use. And then I pull out my red Lumia 920 and tell them I use a Windows Phone. Some ask "what's that?" Or "Oh yeah I've seen the commercials about that." Or "I head those phones are not that good." I take this opportunity to tell them why I chose a Windows Phone. I tell them that the operating system is smooth and snappy. It's easy to use. It has all the essential apps that I use (Facebook, twitter, usaToday, spotify, Pandora, IMdB, Netflix...). I tell them I have hotmail and I love the way the mail and my contacts are arranged. The best part of my answer is when I show them my pictures and videos in low light settings that I took on my vacation. EVERYONE is impressed with the imaging quality of my Lumia 920. I've been able to close a couple of Windows Phone sales like that. I would love to use my entire time with the customer to sell them on a windows phone (I get a personal satisfaction when I sell a windows phone), but the fact of the matter is most of the customers are vested pretty deep into iOS or Android, and fear greatly making a jump out of it. I always tell them it's not that complicated actually, but there are other factors that I have to put up with. Like the fact that ALL of their friends have an iPhone and they all use iMessage, and "Windows Phone doesn't have Instagram?!?!" I address their concerns to the best of my ability, but at the end of the day, I'm not a Microsoft employee or a Nokia employee, I work for AT&T. My job is to ask the right questions and guide the customer (not to a specific device of MY choice, but theirs). I do make it a point to mention the windows phones and that they should not be overlooked amongst the iOS and Android devices. And as I mentioned above my reasons for choosing Windows Phone over the others. Now as of lately I do get more people that are aware of the windows phones, which is a great thing. In the instances that a customer first asks about the windows phones I do love to go on about them and how great they are. Not working directly for Microsoft or Nokia, I feel that this is the best that I can do.

I'm glad to see this! The AT&T store I went into on the 26th had the 1020's shoved back in a corner - no signage to call out the phone and when I asked if they had it the sales associate walked me over to the 920. He tried to talk me into getting a galaxy s4 or the HTC one (they are a better deal). lol. I have never seen a sales person so not interested in getting my money.

I hope Nokia and AT&T will get things right now. If not maybe Nokia should try with some other carrier. Maybe T-Mobile that seems to growing with its new CEO John Legere and the UN-Carrier and Jump plans.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX92Ie1AZhk

I'm sure others have thought of and talked about this, but I feel like a solid strategy in all of this is to have a very clear stepdown to the 920. "Oh, well you see how amazing the 1020 is and you're now really excited about it, but you don't want to pay $299? You can also demo the 920, and it does some of the same things, but without quite the same level of camera, and it's a lot less expensive." You could really sell a lot of 920s that way, in my opinion. (And, of course, if they think it's too big, maybe they'd enjoy an 820. "See how it's just as snappy, with all the same Nokia exclusives?"